Blizzard has released a new expansion for the game “World of Warcraft,” adding tons of new content, including a new campaign, talents, and more.
What is “World of Warcraft”?
“World of Warcraft” (WoW for short), is an MMORPG released back in November of 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. In an MMORPG, you level up and obtain better gear in order to become stronger.
In WoW, there are 3 main roles: tanks, healers, and damage. Tanks take all the attention and damage for the rest of the party, as they mainly specialize in damage reduction and self healing. Healers, well, heal the members of their party. They make sure that everyone stays alive to the best of their ability. Damage just focuses on killing everything.
There are some middle grounds between damage and healer, acting more as a kind of support (Augmentation Evoker, Enhancement Shaman).
There are multiple races to choose from, each giving certain small buffs. The races are divided into two factions: the Alliance and the Horde. The Alliance is mainly made up of human kingdoms, as well as a handful of other races. They tend to be on the more “orderly” side. The Horde is composed of orcs, trolls, and more. They tend to be more on the “chaotic” side.
Main additions of The War Within
A new campaign was added with “The War Within”, along with major changes to classes. These changes include typical balance changes and a new “hero” talent system, which is a mix between two of the specializations for each class. Blizzard also added a new allied race, the Earthen. New activities were also released, including new dungeons, a new raid, and a new activity called a “delve.”
The story so far
The story has to do with thwarting the plans of an entity known as “Xal’Atath.” She harnesses the power of the void, and it is assumed that she intends to bring the “Void Lords” to Azeroth (the world that your character exists in) and let them consume it. In order to stop it, you journey to the lands of Khaz’algar. There, you meet the Earthen, who you ally with and help reunite their council. You also go below Khaz’algar to stop the Nerubians, who are acting as the main ally to Xal’Atath.
Hero Talents
A new type of talent called “Hero talents” were added with the expansion. They act as a talent tree that is a mixture between two specializations of a class, with it often leaning more towards one class.
For example, the Paladin class has three specializations: Retribution (damage), Protection (tank), and Holy (healer). The Herald of the Sun hero talent tree leans toward healing, but can be used by Retribution and Holy.
You can only choose the hero talent tree that includes a bit of that specialization in it. For example, Protection Paladin can choose either Lightsmith or Templar, but not Herald of the Sun. This is really nice, as it adds a lot more synergies to your talents, further increasing your build potential.
New Dungeons
Eight new dungeons, one new raid, and entirely new activity was added with The War Within. Starting off with the dungeons is a level you clear with a 5 person team composed of one tank, one healer, and three damage. You have to kill all of the bosses in the dungeon, with each dungeon usually having 3-4 bosses to kill. Higher difficulties add more mechanics, such as some modifiers, new boss abilities, having to clear a certain amount of smaller enemies in order to complete the dungeon, and completing the dungeon under a certain amount of time.
Nerub-ar Palace
The new raid, Nerub-ar Palace, also is being added, with it being playable on raid finder, normal, and heroic difficulties by Sep. 10, and mythic difficulty releasing a week later. A raid is an activity you do with a large number of people. The general setup for a raid goes 2 tanks, 5 healers, and 18 damage. You can decrease the amount of damage, and healers depending on how many damage dealers you have, but you need 2 tanks in every raid. The health of the boss scales with how many people you have. Difficulty also causes the boss’ stats to scale and add new mechanics. In Nerub-ar, you storm the palace of the Nerubians, a race of spider-like creatures that are, for the most part, aiding Xal’Atath. It contains 8 bosses, all of which seem challenging, with exciting new mechanics and more.
Delves
Delves are a new 1 to 5 player activity added with The War Within. You go into a cave-like area with an AI companion, either in a solo or a party with 4 or less people. You are able to switch out the loadout of that AI companion, changing the function they have and the bonuses they give. In order to complete the delve, you have to complete certain objectives to reach the treasure room. There are different levels to each delve, with higher levels increasing the difficulty of the enemies and changing the objectives. You can also find certain objects around the area to give your companion more xp and get more gold.
This new expansion adds a lot of things to do and see, new raids, a new campaign, more build potential, and much more. The visuals are great, and the story is entertaining. Overall, a very good expansion, definitely worth the $50 minimum to buy it.
